[ Well said. -k]

Op-Ed Columnist: Iraq: Politics or Policy?

] Eastman Kodak Co. will return to U.S. District Court next
] week to seek $1 billion in damages from Sun Microsystems
] Inc. now that a federal jury has ruled in its favor in a
] dispute over the Java computer language.
]
] The jury decided in Rochester on Friday that Sun
] infringed on technology belonging to Kodak when it
] developed and introduced Java more than a decade ago. The
] computer language is now used heavily by software
] developers, on the Internet and in computer schools.
]
] The patents describe a method by which a program can "ask
] for help" from another application to carry out certain
] computer-oriented functions. That's generally similar to
] the way Java operates, according to Kodak and other
] experts.

The jury say that the way the Java Runtime interpreter runs Java byte code was an instance of program "asking for help."

WTF?! How the hell could such a broad patent be granted? Programs helping another out? Wouldn't that include dynamic link libraries? They're code, and other programs use them to help do it task. What about System calls? The kernel is "helping" isn't it? Prior art for this patent? How about nearly every damn advance in Computer Science?

] Kodak in pre-trial documents indicated it would ask for $1.06
] billion in lump-sum royalties – a figure that represents half of
] Sun's operating profit from the sales of computer servers and
] storage equipment between January 1998 and June 2001

Software patents are being used to kill innovation, not foster it. There should be a rule that if you have a patent, and someone else does something really cool with the idea that was covered, something you never planned to or were even investigating, such as writing a cross-platform computer language, then they don't owe you jack. Of course, this would not work, but its a nice dream.

[ I'll have to read the decision and so on in detail before making a solid judgement, but it looks like some bullshit. -k]

Kodak gets to have its way with Sun, prison style.

] The Sinulator arrives in a discreet brown box. We include
] a Quick Start Guide that will have you up and running in
] minutes. Once you've set it up you can immediately let
] anyone you want control your toy!
]
]
] All you need is a computer that runs Windows (98, 2000,
] ME, XP) and an Internet connection. Just install the
] software on your PC, pick a name for your toy, insert
] some AA batteries and you are ready to go!

[ The storied FuFme is no longer merely a joke. You can now fuck your computer for real. -k]

Learn more about the Sinulator

I'm still not sure if I like more and more cartoonists going towards Flash, but this show how Flash can be more effective than print.

[ Yeah, mark feore is cool -k]

Mark Fiore: The Question

John Kerry is this country's intellect. George Bush is our heart.

Kerry clearly won the debate. He made strong points that Bush couldn't counter. Bush had his moments too, but they were fewer. Bush did not build the coalition that he said he was going to build. Bush did not use war as a last resort. With we did win concessions from Lybia, and possibly Syria, through the invasion of Iraq, Iran is moving forward with their nuke plan.

Bush was defensive, and in a sense you have to identify with his position. I don't like a number of his policies. I don't want to see him win. But he is a sitting President, and he may have been goofing off before 9/11, but he hasn't since. He kept repeating that its a hard job. It is a hard job. Most countries leaders are either corrupt enough to have opulent wealth and pleasure as a result of their position, or lucky enough to be running some place like Canada that basically just needs maintenance and isn't at the center of World affairs. Bush has worked his ass off and he has fought hard, and all he gets in return is jeers from his political enemies. At the end of the day you want the American people to show you that they appreciate it. Its impossible to simultaneously honor someone's service to his country while you're firing him, and that is a shame on some level.

Kerry is right, in a moral sense, that we need more people in Iraq to secure the country. If we really care about Iraq, we need to secure it. At the same time, the costs and risks that this entails are staggering. Are we really prepared for this commitment? This is the draft.

John Edwards sounds like a fucking redneck. In a sense he is the Dem's dark horse. All of the Democrats who've won elections in the past half century have been Southerners. The South's Democratic block is the thing that has kept this country from completely turning into an Urban vs. Rural culture war. Southerners like to vote for Southerners, even if they are Democrats, because Southern is still a cultural identity that is stronger then urban or rural. Furthermore, in the South the local Republicans have traditionally been the guys with holes in their sheets. No one wants to vote for a racist.

If the Republicans can pull the South, they win. Thats why they support the fundamentalists. Christian is a more important cultural identity then Southern or Republican. If they can connect with it over the next few cycles they'll control the country, and it will become a very uncomfortable place for multiculturalist intellectuals from the big city.

Some have argued that because Kerry is a Northerner, and Bush is from Texas, that Kerry really doesn't have a prayer. The visibility of Edwards during these debates might change that. Thats really Kerry's best hope.

K is right that the Dems need to think more strategically. To put a point on it, the Dems will loose the South over the next few years as the Republicans work to extend their concep... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]

Debate

] We stood idly by while Baghdad was ransacked. As the
] occupying power, we had an obligation to maintain law and
] order, but we failed to live up to it. If we had cared
] about the people of Iraq we should have had more troops
] available for the occupation than we needed for the
] invasion. We should have provided protection not only
] for the oil ministry but also the other ministries,
] museums and hospitals. Baghdad and the country's other
] cities were destroyed after we occupied them. When we
] encountered resistance, we employed methods that
] alienated and humiliated the population. The way we
] invaded homes, and the way we treated prisoners generated
] resentment and rage.

[ Soros is engaged. Good stuff. -k]

GeorgeSoros.com

[ * GOLD STAR

And if it was a tad less repetitive and a little longer, maybe it'd get another half star on top of that.

This book is essentially a quick condensation of the salient concepts from Lakoff's earlier book, Moral Politics, together with updated insights and recent examples of where and how they apply.

The author describes in detail why voters on the political right seem so often to be voting against their self interest, how the rightwing power elite constructed the framework which enables and propagates it's message and why the left will always be frustrated by trying to fight them with facts.

He presents a cogent assessment of the importance of frames, and how they've been effectively used by the right, and ignored by the left. He constructs a model on which to base such frames, explaining the right in terms of theirs, and offering suggestions for the left on the basis of ours.

It's a small handbook, just an introduction really, to get people to start thinking about these issues, and start working to counter the 30 year head start the right has built.

It's no secret that I speak from a left perspective, and the book is also written as a guide for us, the left, but I think even politically moderate but intellectually progressive people would gain a lot from this book, if only by exploring the way in which frames are created, installed and exploited. For many of us, this will reinforce analyses or knowledge we've had for some time, for others it may catalyze some activity you felt but never quite saw full on. Maybe it'll be a total wake up call for some. Regardless, it's worth a read.

It's short, only 8 bucks at Amazon, and for those in the 404 I'd be happy to lend out my copy. -k]

] After a deluge of campaign speeches and hostile
] television ads, President Bush and challenger John Kerry
] got their chance to face each other directly Thursday
] night before an audience of tens of millions of voters in
] a high-stakes debate about terrorism, the Iraq war and
] the bloody aftermath.
]
]
] The 90-minute encounter was particularly crucial for
] Kerry, trailing slightly in the polls and struggling for
] momentum less than five weeks before the election. The
] Democratic candidate faced the challenge of presenting
] himself as a credible commander in chief after a torrent
] of Republican criticism that he was prone to changing his
] positions.

[ Bold mine. What the FUCK is with the tense in this article? I mean, I understand deadlines, but what the fuck? They wrote the whole article before a word is even spoken? Ass clowns. -k]

ABCNEWS.com : Bush, Kerry Prepare for Debate in Fla.

] As the nation prepares to watch the presidential
] candidates debate foreign policy issues, a new
] PIPA-Knowledge Networks poll finds that Americans who
] plan to vote for President Bush have many incorrect
] assumptions about his foreign policy positions. Kerry
] supporters, on the other hand, are largely accurate in
] their assessments. The uncommitted also tend to
] misperceive Bush's positions, though to a smaller
] extent than Bush supporters, and to perceive Kerry's
] positions correctly.

[ Framing, framing, framing, framing. Co-opt the language and you convince people despite facts. Luntz, Norquist and the network of conservative think tanks have worked for 30 years to set this up. These are the rewards they're reaping :

"Majorities of Bush supporters incorrectly assumed that Bush favors including labor and environmental standards in trade agreements (84%), and the US being part of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (69%), the International Criminal Court (66%), the treaty banning land mines (72%), and the Kyoto Treaty on global warming (51%). "

-k]

PIPA - What's New

] Part of the Patriot Act, a central plank of the Bush
] Administration's war on terror, was ruled
] unconstitutional by a federal judge on Wednesday.
]
] U.S. District Judge Victor Marreo ruled in favor of the
] American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the
] power the FBI has to demand confidential financial
] records from companies as part of terrorism
] investigations.

ABCNEWS.com : Judge Rules Against Patriot Act Provision